MarylandCounty boards report bullying tied to personal characteristics
Maryland county boards must record known suspected motives on bullying forms, report certain group patterns, and provide some incident counts on request.
What it does
Bullying report forms must record known personal characteristics believed to have motivated an incident, when it is believed to be tied to a listed characteristic.
County boards must include certain investigated incidents in yearly reports when a group’s incident count substantially rises or falls, or its rate is disproportionate.
Each county board must provide, on request, counts of reported incidents tied to personal characteristics, broken down by characteristic, while protecting student identities.
Argument forRecording known motives and reporting certain group patterns could help school officials notice when students face unequal treatment.
Argument againstBoards may need extra time to sort investigated cases by group and compare yearly counts when preparing their reports.
More detail
The law requires the state’s standard bullying report form to record known personal characteristics believed to have motivated an incident. The form identifies the student victim and alleged perpetrator, if known. This applies when the incident is believed to be motivated in whole or substantial part by a listed actual or perceived personal characteristic. The law takes effect July 1, 2026.
Each county board must include certain investigated incidents in its yearly report to the State Board. This covers incidents involving students in a group defined by a listed actual or perceived personal characteristic. The incident must be found, after a thorough and impartial investigation, to have been motivated in whole or substantial part by a listed personal characteristic of a group member. The board must include incidents if the group’s incident count substantially increased or decreased from the previous school year, or if its incident rate was disproportionate. The Department must set standards for these conditions. The Department must set standards by July 1, 2027. County boards submit yearly summaries by January 31.
Each county board must make certain incident information available on request. The information covers incidents reported by that county board. The information gives the number of incidents reported to the State Board that were determined to be motivated by a personal characteristic of an individual or group, broken down by characteristic. A board may not publish information that could identify an individual student. Boards must make the information available on request by January 31 each year.
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Where it stands
- Introduced
- Passed House
- Passed Senate
- To Governor
- Became Law
Looking ahead
No hearings or votes scheduled.
History
- 2026
- May 26Approved by the Governor Wes Moore - Chapter 775Became Law
- Apr 13Passed EnrolledTo Governor
- Apr 13Third Reading PassedMajor
- Apr 13Conference Committee Report {
- Apr 13Third Reading PassedMajor
- Apr 13Conference Committee Report {
- Apr 13Senate Conference Committee Appointed (Senators Attar, Brooks and Carozza)
- Apr 13Senate Refuses Recede
- Apr 13Senate Conference Committee Appointed (Senators Attar, Brooks and Carozza)
- Apr 13Senate Refuses Recede
- Apr 13House Conference Committee Appointed (Delegates Ebersole, Patterson and Miller)
- Apr 13House Requests Senate Recede
- Apr 13House Refuses Concur Senate Amendments
- Apr 11House Conference Committee Appointed (Delegates Ebersole, Patterson and Miller)
- Apr 11House Requests Senate Recede
- Apr 11House Refuses Concur Senate Amendments
- Apr 10Third Reading PassedPassed Senate
- Apr 10Motion Special Order until Next Session (Senator A. Washington) Adopted
- Apr 9Second Reading Passed with Amendments
- Apr 9Favorable with Amendments {Minor
- Apr 9Favorable with Amendments Report by Education, Energy, and the EnvironmentMinor
- Apr 1
- Vote recorded On Third Reading and Final Passage (CCR Adp). Result: pass.Lower
- Mar 27
- Vote recorded Bill is on Third Reading for Final Passage. Result: pass.Upper
- Mar 24Hearing 4/01 at 1:00 p.m.
- Vote recorded Bill is on Third Reading for Final Passage. Result: pass.Upper
- Mar 23Referred Education, Energy, and the EnvironmentMinor
- Mar 21Third Reading PassedPassed House
- Mar 20Second Reading Passed with Amendments
- Mar 20Favorable with Amendments {Minor
- Mar 20Favorable with Amendments Report by Ways and MeansMinor
- Mar 9
- Vote recorded On Third Reading. Result: pass.Lower
- Jan 14Hearing 1/29 at 1:00 p.m.
- Jan 14First Reading Ways and MeansMinor
- 2025
- Aug 22Pre-filedIntroduced
Education